


Nine Days (After The Sunset)

by pianobookworm



Series: Day By Day (We'll Get Through This) [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, F/M, Memory Loss, Possibly Unrequited Love, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 05:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pianobookworm/pseuds/pianobookworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy and Steve <em>finally</em> talk about Steve's lack of memories and what that means for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nine Days (After The Sunset)

**Author's Note:**

> You guys are so awesome! Thank you so much for reading, leaving kudos, and commenting! Without you, this story would never have gotten this far.
> 
> I don't own any Marvel characters, I'm just playing with them.
> 
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

She came into the Tower the next day—the ninth day after the Incident—steeled and ready for an encounter. (She had come in yesterday as well, but _he_ had taken the day off, apparently, since he never showed up.) And this time, he appeared as usual in front of the elevators.

As usual, they had stepped into the elevator in silence. But for the second time since the incident, he turned to her, rather than standing awkwardly.

“Darcy?” His voice was hesitant, questioning, slowly reaching out as if over uncharted waters.

She could feel her rock-solid defenses crumbling at the sheer _lostness_ echoing in his voice and peeking through the worried look in his eyes. Unsure of her composure if she spoke, she merely nodded slowly, looking at him with eyes wide.

He shifted his arm uncomfortably. “I—I don’t remember you. You know that.” He paused for a moment, then continued with a rush, “But I think—I _think_ —we were… _important_ …to each other.”

Nodding once more, she tried to give him an encouraging glance, hoping tears didn’t betray her. When he merely looked worried that he was doing something wrong, _(Gah, why did she have to know him so well?)_ she swallowed and steeled herself to speak without breaking down in tears.

“Yeah,” _pause, take a breath, don’t cry Darcy!_ “Yeah, we…kinda were.” Looking down to blink away the tears starting in her eyes, she swallowed. “What…what were you going to say?”

He tipped his head, scratching at the back of his neck in an oh-so-familiar nervous gesture that threatened to flood her eyes and heart once more. “Well…I was hoping that we could meet up, at lunch or something? and talk about things?”

The question in his voice brought a smile to her face—a sad, lopsided smile, but a smile nontheless. “Yeah. Yeah, that would be good.”

His face brightened. “Really?”

She did smile then, tears still threatening at the corners of her eyes, but pushed away for now by the hope in his eyes. “Yes, really. You can come by at lunch time, and we’ll pick a place out together?”

He gave a lopsided grin. “Sounds good to me…” Something attracted his attention, and he looked away. Following his gaze, Darcy saw that they had gone past her floor while talking.  
She gave a nervous laugh.

“Oh, dear, it looks like we got a bit distracted…”

Steve turned red, the adorable thing. “I’m sorry…I should have noticed…this is my floor, you’ll have to go back down…”

She laughed and shooed him off the elevator in spite of his protests. “Ah, don’t worry, it’s just an elevator. I can find my way just fine.” As she pushed the button, she looked back at him. “See you at lunchtime?”

He nodded firmly. “Of course.”

_Lunchtime. I’m talking with Steve at lunchtime…_ She couldn’t help but compare this to the early days of their relationship…but now it was so completely different.

At lunchtime, Steve came to get her—an experience painful for the many lovely memories it brought back—and they picked out a restaurant together.

Darcy had tried to prepare herself—readying herself for the fact that Steve was going to be uncomfortable, and wouldn’t know her—but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She could see him struggling, trying to figure out what she would like.

_No, you don’t need to do this…we know each other_ , she wanted to say, but it wasn’t that simple. _No. He doesn’t know me anymore. Do I even know him, now that his memories of me are gone?_

Finally, they came to a decision, and sat down. As they waited for their food, Steve pulled a small, leather-bound book _(Oh, his sketchbook)_ out of his jacket.

“I need you to look at this, Darcy.”

She began turning through the pages, and put her hand to her mouth when she realized what was in it. There was sketch after sketch of herself—rough sketches merely capturing the liveliness of the moment, detailed portraits that emphasized her full lips and dark curls, line drawings of her walking down the street… All memories of the time they used to have.

_We were so happy! Why couldn’t it last?_

Blinking away the tears which were fighting to come to the surface once again, she looked up at Steve.

“I—I see,” she stammered shakily. “And you—you can’t remember any of that, can you?”

He shook his head. “It’s so strange—having _these_ ,” he gestured to the sketchbook, “I’ve got evidence of a past which I can’t remember.”

Darcy bit her lips together and looked away. “I’m - I’m sure.”

Steve made an impatient gesture with his head. “It’s _hard_ , and no one will tell me anything! And Bucky says I’m never going to get my memories back, and what am I supposed to do? Just _deal_ with it?”

Darcy’s eyes widened at the frustration in his voice, and then she was speaking, letting everything she had been holding in out all at once.

“I don’t know, Steve, I just wanted you to be _alive_ , and then it was all so sudden, and I asked everyone not to tell you about _us_ , because I wanted to be the one to tell you, and then—and then you didn’t even know me at all, and it was so _hard_!”

Steve reached across the table and touched her hand hesitantly. “We were together, then? You and I?”

Sniffling, Darcy nodded. “Yeah. We were.”

He smiled gently. “I— those drawings, they” he paused, “they are the type of drawings I would do if I was completely in love with someone.”

The tears had broken their dam and were flowing freely, now. Steve continued.

“I can’t remember that, and I think it’s a shame, that I lost so much time with a woman as lovely as you are.”

She shook her head, “How do you know that? You can’t remember!”

He smiled slowly. “I think that although my head can’t remember—I think that my heart remembers you. I can tell that it’s _right_ to be talking to you like this, but it’s wrong at the same time, since we don’t have shared memories anymore.”

Darcy smiled through her tears. “That’s really sweet of you, Steve. I wish…I wish that the Incident had never happened. ”

Sighing, he grimaced. “Yeah, so do I.” Taking a breath, he continued. “But it did. And I think that we’re not going to get those days back.”

Eyes widening, Darcy looked at him warily. _What is he saying?_ But he continued, scratching his head slightly. “But..um..maybe, we could talk some more later? Get to know each other again—make new memories?”

Darcy nodded. “I think—I think I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Boy, this part was hard to write. Steve and Darcy just did not want to talk at all...so I hope this turned out alright.
> 
> One more installment to go, and then I think this story will be finished. I hope you guys have liked it so far! Leave me a note telling me what you think-I love hearing from all of you!


End file.
